Ball is Life
by ZRAWW
Summary: A basketball one shot for now. I just want some feedback and see how far I can take it. If I get enough positive feedback, i'll continue it along with a few prologues that will explain a lot. It all relies on you!
1. Chapter 1

Jimmy pulled into Retroville High's parking lot in his normal space. He switched his phone over to vibrate before pulling his duffel bag from the back seat of his Escalade. He hopped out of the front seat and shut the door behind him. The crisp morning air hit his face,causing him to shiver a little, and it probably didn't help that he had ball shorts on. He stood in the parking lot in a pair of Adidas red and black shorts, with a black D-Rose hoodie, and a pair of red and black ball shoes. His once swooped hair down now resembled that of Sheens, and his recent grow spurt put him at around 6'3. He popped in his headphones and headed into school.

Cindy stood at her locker, grabbing a few books she needed for class before the first bell rang. She had on dark blue skinny jeans, a light orange off the shoulder shirt, and white flats. She had a recent growth spurt as well, but nothing to make her height compete with Jimmy's. She stood at around 5'11. She had her hair in a long ponytail that hung over her shoulder. She grabbed the last of her books and closed her locker door to see Jimmy walking down the hall. He had his headphones in and was busy with something on his phone. She smirked before walking past him and bumping him forcefully. He shot her a look and she just smirked before swaying her way to class. He rolled his eyes and made his way to his first class.

His first class happened to be homeroom, with Sheen and Carl. He walked in and took his normal seat next to his friends, where Sheen and going on to Carl about a new video game he had bought. When he too his seat, Sheen glanced over from his conversation. "Welllllll, if it isn't Mr. Basketball" he said with a sly smile. Jimmy rolled his eyes and removed his headphones. "Yeah right, I checked the polls on my way here, i'm still in 3rd place" Jimmy explained disappointed. Carl gave him a smile and patted him on the back, "Its okay Jim, you still have a lot of games left in the season. If anyone can win Mr. Basketball, it's you." Jimmy smiled bleakly at his best friends. It was just weird going from being #1 in the classroom to being #3 on the hardwood.

Cindy sat in her homeroom with Libby, mindlessly chattering away. "So how far away is the boys next away game again" Libby whined. Cindy laughed a little, "It's close to 4 hours I believe." Libby rolled her eyes and put her head down on the desk, "The life of a cheerleader" she murmured. Cindy laughed before scrolling through the web page on her phone looking for new practice shirts.

The beginning of the school day didn't last long before it was lunch time. Jimmy walked into the cafeteria with his duffel bag, spotting his table with Sheen and Carl already present. He tossed his duffel bag onto the table and fished around inside his bag. He pulled out two containers, one filled with pasta while the other was salad filled. "How do you just fill up on that" Carl asked curiously, still a little on the hefty side but no where near his 4th grade self. Jimmy just shrugged, he didn't even know himself, but it was better than lunch food. Before he could answer, Libby and Cindy joined the group.

"Hey babe" Sheen greeted, giving Libby a small peck. "Jimmy, please tell me Cindy was joking about the distance to the next away game" Libby whined. Jimmy smirked and shook his head, "If she said 4 hours, she wasn't lying" he said before taking a bite of his pasta. Libby leaned her head on Sheens shoulder and sighed. "So hows it feel Jimmy" Cindy questioned without looking up from her food. Jimmy raised an eyebrow at her, "Hows what feel?" She smirked before swallowing her food. "Not being the best at something." She could feel the eye rolls around the table at her comment, but it didn't bother her one bit. But Jimmy didn't even blink at it. "Probably no where near as bad as being #6 in the Miss Basketball polls" he retorted, without an emotion evident in his voice. That didn't sit too well with Cindy.

"I can't help that I was injured at the beginning of the season and had to sit out a few games" she fired back, raising her voice a little. But she only made herself more angry when Jimmy just smirked and continued eating. At this point in time, Cindy knew both Jimmy and herself had feelings for one another, both too hardheaded and prideful to admit it to each other. So if she couldn't win verbally, she had a secret weapon that just walked into the cafeteria. She excused herself loudly and made her way across the room, Jimmys eyes following her the entire time. She finally stopped when she met what she was aiming for, Nick Dean. Jimmy's fists tightened up at the sight of him. They both came back to the table, and Cindy grabbed her duffel bag. "So I thought maybe we could go to the gym, have a little _one-on-one time_" Nick said smoothly to Cindy. She gave Jimmy a quick glance and nodded her head, "Sure lets go" she cooed.

When they had disappeared out of sight, Jimmy closed his containers up. He couldn't eat after witnessing that. Libby rolled her eyes and shook her head at him, "Would you please just tell her already." Jimmy just looked up at her, "No idea what you're talking about" she spoke quietly. Sheen and Carl matched Libbys eye roll. "Look guys, if Cindy really had any interest in me, she would've said something by now. Besides, you saw what I just saw" he explained with a small amount of attitude. Libby rubbed her temples out of frustration. "You guys have been at this for 6 years now, everyone sees it, and everyone knows it. So why oh why, can't you two hard heads just admit your feelings and be done with it" Libby blurted out. Jimmy didn't even give her a response, "I'll see you guys after school" and on that note, he left.

The rest of the day went as usual, Jimmy avoided contact with Cindy at all costs. After school he had an hour of basketball practice where he was forced to have contact with Nick. He did get some anger worked out though, they ran a scrimmage and Jimmy gave a Nick a cross over that landed him flat on his face. Jimmy had a smirk all the way to the basket. Eventually 4:30 rolled around and everyone started packing up their things. Jimmys head coach and Cindys dad, Steve Vortex, took a seat next to Jimmy while he was changing his shoes.

"Everything alright with you and Dean" he asked nonchalantly. Jimmy removed his right ankle brace and tossed it into his bag. "Why do you ask" Jimmy asked trying to hide the sarcasm. Steve chuckled a little, "Crossing some over is one of the greatest feelings in basketball, but that smirk you had wasn't one of accomplishment but more of vengeance" Steve said crossing his arms. Jimmy stopped tying his shoes and sighed. "It's complicated. Trust me, there will be no issue on the court. Just something that needed to be done in practice to keep things running smoothly. I know you love 'team chemistry' so much" Jimmy joked using air quotes and bumping his coach. Steve shook his head and put his hand on Jimmys shoulder. "As long as things run smoothly, I don't have a problem. But if you need to talk about anything or just wanna get something off your chest, you know where my office is" Steve said getting up and walking into his office.

Jimmy continued lacing back up his shoes when he heard another set of footsteps in the gym. He looked up to see a petite blonde walking across the court towards Steve's office. He almost had her avoided all day long. He sighed and hoped she just kept walking, he didn't need her heckling him right now. But sure enough her voice echoed through the gym, "always the last to leave huh Neutron." He didn't give her a glance or a retort, he just picked up his bag and headed towards the gym door. He stopped when he felt a small hand on his shoulder.

"What" he asked coldly looking over his shoulder. She removed her hand and breathed out through her nose loudly. "What crawled up your ass" she asked angered. He turned and faced her furiously. "Whats it matter to you? Shouldn't you be giving Nick a post-practice _one-on-one massage_" he asked harshly, not 4 inches from her face. Her eyebrows crinkled up. She tried to keep her cool. "I hope you're not implying what I think you're implying" she said calmly through gritted teeth. He didn't give her a joking tone, "I call what I see Vortex, and today in the cafeteria said it all." Before she could even bark at him, he turned on heel and walked out of the gym. She picked up a nearby basketball and threw it with all her strength into the wall. After it bounced to a slow roll, someone cleared their voice. She turned to see her dad leaning against a wall. Her face immediately flushed red.

"So, you're whats causing a fluster in my star player" he spoke up. Cindy rubbed her arm awkwardly, not looking at her father. He cleared the gap between them, and put an arm around her shoulder. "Cin, I've watched you and Jimmy grow up together, fight tooth and nail, and drive each other to insanity. But its obvious what's going on, even an old man like me can see it." Cindy pushed herself off her dad and shook her head, "Dad can we PLEASE not talk about this" she pleaded embarrassed. He chuckled and nodded. "I'm almost done with my game plans for next week, shoot around for a bit until i'm done and we'll head home." She agreed and began some shooting drills. She looked at the spalding basketball in her hands, her therapy away from her crazy life.


	2. Chapter 2

In 5th grade, Jimmy's father was assigned to a large company in the Philippines that was highly regarded for its studies in Ornithology, Hugh was part of the duck branch. His fascination with ducks finally paid off in the long run, and Jimmys family was very well off, even though his dad was rarely home. It felt weird coming home from school everyday and not seeing his father. His mom was very comforting to him about the subject but Jimmy knew she missed him as well. By this time in life Jimmy was starting to become interested in more things in life. His older cousin, Devin, had come in from Dallas, during his stint he told Jimmy stories of playing basketball in high school, the excitement that came from the fans cheering and the dribbling of the ball. Jimmy loved all his stories and Devin even took him to watch the Retroville Razors play a home game. The moment the buzzer sounded, Jimmy was in love with basketball.

By 7th grade, Jimmy was the star player of Lindbergh Elementary school, playing combo guard for either position. He had the teachers attention in the classroom, every girls desire, and every guys respect. But just like in the classroom, he had another rival on the court. Cindy was the star combo guard for the girls basketball team, playing basketball before Jimmy discovered his love for it. Just like the classroom, he got more attention than she did.

When he started his Freshman year of high school, he and his mother decided that she should go be with Hugh. Jimmy hated seeing her alone for the past few years, and he knew it wouldn't be a problem living on his own. She was reluctant in the beginning, but Jimmy wouldn't take no for an answer. Before she would agree, she wanted to make sure he was properly took care of. She hired a housekeeper for groceries and house cleaning. Half-way through Jimmys Freshman year, his dad had bought the house next door to his old home and combined the houses. His exact quote was, "get used to living in something like this son. You're gonna be a superstar one day." He was basically living in a mansion, new pool, and new basketball court.

And now, we find Jimmy where we left off. He threw his bag into his Escalade and jumped into the drivers seat. Before he knew it he was pulling into his garage and walking into his room. He jumped into the shower and scrubbed up. When he got out, he had a text from Sheen: 'Get online.' He threw on a pair of ball shorts and grabbed his controller. (A/N: I'm not one to participate in the console war, so just imagine whatever system you want) He logged into his account and joined Sheens party, occupied by Carl.

"Hey Jim" Carl piped up. "Hey Carl, what're you guys playing" Jimmy asked scrolling through his games list. "I'm playing Llama Farm." Jimmy smirked a little, Carl was still obsessed with Llamas even in highschool. "What about-" but Jimmy was cut off by a screech. "SON OF A BITCH" was heard after the screech. "You okay Sheen" Jimmy asked. "Everytime I play Madden online...I get shit on in the 4th" Sheen grimaced. Both Carl and Jimmy laughed at their Puerto Rican friend. "You still throwing that party this weekend Jim" Carl asked after the laughter died down.

"Yeah it's still on Carl, that is if we win the game" Jimmy explained, starting his copy of NBA 2k. "What do you mean if you win," Sheen screeched, "There's not if to it, you guys are gonna kick ass like always." "Maybe Sheen, maybe. Better to go into a game with a level head than under mining the other team. But im gonna go shoot around out back for a little bit, feel free to drop by guys" and with that Jimmy logged off.

A few blocks away, Cindy was in the passenger seat of her dads Navigator, mindlessly looking out the window. Her dad glanced over and then back to the road. "Sure you don't wanna talk about it" her dad asked. Cindy sighed and looked back at him, "yes dad." Her dad looked at his watch, and then back on the road. "I'm supposed to have dinner with your mother soon, mind if I drop you off" he asked turning onto their street. "Sure, I need to study anyway" she replied, unbuckling her seat belt. He let the blonde out of the vehicle and proceeded to head into the city.

Cindy fished around in her bag looking for her house key. She started to get agitated when she couldn't find it. She fished around some more, pulling things out of her bag. Then out of nowhere, a gust of wind kicked up, and made one of her bras in her bag go flying wildly. She grabbed for it furiously but to no avail. It whipped up high and across the street. "You've got to be fucking kidding me" she cursed before dropping her bag and to the article of clothing.

Across the said street, Jimmy was practicing his post up on an invisible defender. He backed down the air, faked left euro-stepped back. But he was suddenly blinded by something pink smacking him in the face. He dropped the ball and peeled off the pink object. He froze, his face turning from pink to red. By this point, Cindy had made her way around to the backyard. She immediately froze also when she saw Jimmy holding her bra. "NEUTRON WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING" she yelled, stomping over her to him. He looked at her, then to the bra, then back to her. "I-Uh-Just-umm-I was-" but he was cut off when she ripped the underwire from his hands. "Being a pervert!?" she screamed. Jimmys emotions were all flustered up, resulting in anger. "Oh please Vortex, its not like i'm the first guy to see it...or even the 5th probably" she spat at her, picking up the ball. She could feel the fire rising up behind her eyes. "Whats that suppose to mean Nerdtron" she screamed again, raising her voice to decibels. Jimmy smirked at her, "I believe you know what I meant."

Cindy grabbed his shoulder as he started to walk off, turning him to face her. "Listen you bastard, whatever you think you know about me, you're wrong. I'll have you know im a virgin" she told him, poking her finger in his chest. She was looking up at his 6'3 figure, while he looked down at her 5'11 frame. Even though she was chewing him out, he sighed in relief in his head for that answer. Her eyes shifted into attack position though, "But I guess thats nothing to you, considering you are too." His face turned red once again. "I am not" he spit. Cindy grinned and giggled to herself, "Your hand doesn't count Neutron." He wasn't gonna let her get to him. "Get out of my backyard Vortex" he said trying to get her out of his hair. "Make me" she retorted. He picked the basketball up and tossed it at her feet.

She picked the ball up, and walked over to the top of the three point line. "Ladies first" she pointed out, as Jimmy walked over in front of her. She tossed the ball into his chest, "check." They played as if their lives depended on it. Before long it had come down to 11-11. "Next basket wins" she explained tossing the ball to him to be checked. He rolled it to her feet and go into defensive stance. "How about we make this more interesting" she offered, gauging his reaction. He stood up straight and raised an eyebrow. "If I make this next shot, you do whatever I want you too. If I miss it, vice-versa." He scratched his chin, thinking over the question. He then extended his hand and she shook it. He got back into defensive stance and waited for her move. She dribbled back and forth, trying to get the jump on him. Then she struck, dribbling at a left angle towards the basket. Jimmy snapped back to guard the basket, when she stepped back and pull a jump shot while Jimmy was unbalanced. The ball glided through the air, as Jimmy closed his eyes and cringing knowing he messed up. It bounced off the front of the rim, hit the backboard, and dropped in with a swishing noise. All that could be heard was the ball, slowly bouncing up and down faster and faster until coming til a halt. He opened his eyes to face her, she was grinning ear to ear.

"Alright Vortex, lets just get it over with. What do you want" he asked dreadfully, imagining the embarrassment she was gonna put him through. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead, and then closed the gap between them slowly. She looked up into his face, still grinning. "Are you really still a virgin...Jimmy" she asked, looked directly into his eyes. He hesitated, then nodded his head. "Yeah Cin, I am." Her grin got a little bigger, and she looked down then back up at him. She tugged on his shirt a little and then stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Thats cute. And don't worry...I am too" she whispered before walking back to her house.

Jimmy sat down on the court, and put his hand where she kissed. "What the hell just happened" he thought.


End file.
